Construction of kneed bents



Sept. 7, 1954 w. E. WILSON CONSTRUCTION OF KNEED BENTS- 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dad. 6. 194a Sept. 7, 1954 W. E. WILSON CONSTRUCTION OF KNEED BENTS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 6. 1948 INVgiNTOR.

Sept. 7, 1954 w. E. WILSON 2,538,167

CONSTRUCTION OF KNEED BENTS- Filed Dec. 6, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Sept. 7, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONSTRUCTION OF KNEED BENTS Win E. Wilson, Tacoma, Wash.

Application December 6, 1948, Serial No. 63,725

6 Claims.

This invention relates to building construction, and more especially pertains to the bents which make up the skeletonstructure therefor, with the principal object being to devise an improved system of joining the angularly disposed components of the bent one to another in an unusually rigid assembly.

It is a further and particular object to provide an association of parts for this purpose embodying a perfected knee-block arranged and adapted to exactly fit the inside angle described at the juncture of post and rafter or rafter and rafter and which is so tied to these meeting members as to positively lock the members in place and pass all moments originating therein into the knee.

The invention has the further object still of devising a frame structure of this nature the components of which are of simple and inexpensive construction readily adapting themselves to prefabrication and which can be easily and quickly erected on the building site.

As a still further object, the invention aims to provide a frame structure the component parts of which are or may be standardized and which admits of using these several standardized parts in the erection of variously shaped roofs.

The invention has the yet further and important object of providing frame-building members which, while adapting themselves to the use of wood, metal or reinforced concrete as the material of their composition, are by preference made of laminated wood with scrap stock being suitable for the purpose and with the laminae so applied as to give unusual rigidity to the produced member.

With other still more particular objects and advantages in view and which, with the foregoing, will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consists in the perfected method of join ing the angularly disposed members which compose the transverse framing bent of a building and in the novel construction, adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed,

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view portraying a framing structure produced in accordance with the preferred teachings of the present invention, the elements as they are here illustrated being of laminated wood composition.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view thereof taken to an enlarged scale and confinedto the showing of a single joint, in this instance the ridge joint.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view showing the knee-block alone and with the scale being enlarged from that of Fig. 1 but reduced from that of Fig. 2.

Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse vertical sectional views on lines 55 and 4 l, respectively, of Fig. 1, and employing a scale corresponding to the scale used in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational View illustrating a modified knee assembly particularly lending itself to the use of reinforced concrete.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing still another embodiment of the invention which lends itself equally well to the use of wood or reinforced concrete.

Fig. 8 is a transverse vertical sectional view on line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

Figs. 9 and 11 are fragmentary side elevational views portraying further embodiments of the invention, these embodiments being such as best adapt themselves to the use of metal as the material of their composition.

Figs. 10, 12 and 13 are transverse sectional views on respective lines l0l0 of Fig. 9 and lines I 2-l 2 and l3-l3 of Fig. 11, the former said view, for maximum clarity in illustration, deleting the tie-bolt which secures the knee-block to the rafter member.

With reference being had to said drawings, and first describing the embodiment of Figs. 1 through 5, inclusive, the numerals 2i and 22 designate post and rafter members of a framing bent having their ends in contiguity and with these contiguous ends indicated as being each cut on an angle of 30 to give, by their meeting abutment, a 30 pitch to the roof line. These rafter and post members are each comprised of two complementing sections placed side-by-side and clamped in separated parallelism by spacing washers 23 employed in conjunction with nutted bolts 24, and the said sections are each preferably of gluebonded laminated Wood construction with the laminae 25 lying transverse to the plane of the bent and running lengthwise of the sections.

Designated by 25 are knee-blocks applied much in the manner of gussets to each of the frame angles, and in fabricating these blocks there are employed a pair of identical cheek plates 2'l28 which, side elevation considered, are each made in the form of an isosceles triangle whose major angle is the mating counterpart of the frame angles, and received between and glued or otherwise integrated with these cheek plates is a web 38 having a thickness corresponding to the longitudinal slot 29 which occurs between the paired complements of each of the two frame members acce e? 2| and 22. This web is made to project beyond the sloping faces of the cheek plates, and the exposed. tongue thereby described accommodates itself in the slot of the frame members. As will be clearly apparent from an inspection of Fig. 3 the web either is made u from four separated sections or may be a single piece drilled to provide three bolt-holes running top to bottom of the web with one said bolt-hole, denoted 3|, lying substantially on the bisecting line of the block while the others, denoted 32 and 33, are placed in spaced proximity of the end extremities and run perpendicular to the sloping faces. As with the spaced components of the longitudinal frame members 2! and 22, the cheek-plates are of laminated construction with the laminae 26 placed in substantially the same manner, and this is 'to say on edge with the wide sides placed at right angles to the plane in which the frame angles lie and running lengthwise of the block.

When assembling the described framing pieces of a bent, rafter to rafter or rafter to post, the ends of the longitudinals are slipped over the tongue of the knee-block and brought into abutting engagement, whereupon bolts 34, '35 and 36, which each carry a suitable washer under the head ends thereof, are passed from theo'utside of the frame through the bolt-holes 3|, 32 and 33. The bolts are of a length to extend through the knee-block and project beyond the inside face of the latter, and these bolts are then drawn tight by nuts't'i, 38 and 39, respectively, each establishing its purchase against the usual washer. The washers, denoted by At, 'll and 42, which underlie the bolt heads are or maybe integrated with the bolt heads and act in each instance to span the slot 25) and bear upon the paired-complements of the post or rafter, as the case may be, and the washer throughthe instrumentallty of giving the same an angular bend, is made'co'mmon to each of the two abuttingmembers. It will beseen that the two compiementsof respective-said abutting members are each held rigid with the kneeblocl; by two bolts placed one at the end limit of the abutting member and the other in longitudinally removed relation "therefrom closely 'adjacent to the end limit of the knee-block. The first said bolt restrains the related member against forces tending to rock on the knee and jack-knife the abutting members, and the seco'n'd said bolt restrains the related member against forces working in a counterdirection, wherefor it becomes self-evident that irrespective of the direction in which a bendingmomentactsthe same is resisted by a bolt in tension, and the responsible moment is passed into the knee.

Proceeding with a description of the other'e'mbodiments which I have elected to illustrate, that of Fig. 6 portrays an arrangement in which angularly disposed member iifl'and of the bent have the lip extremities of their abutting endscut back as at t l-53 to produce coinciding flats, and thus admitting of the use'of a plane washer'54' in lieu of the bent washer it to'establish a tensioning purchase from the single centrally placed bolt 56 to the end extremities of both said members ti? and 55. The knee-block 55 in this embodiment, considered as to configuration, is distinguished from the embodiment of Figs. 1-5 only in the fact of its presenting bosses, as 56 and '57, upon which the nuts for the other two boltstdand 58 bear. This particular embodiment, while admitting to the use of wood as the material of its composition, especially lends itself to production from reinforced concrete cast to shape. So cast, the members 50 and 5| would 4 desirably be terminally bifurcated, and this is to say that the slots which accommodate the tongue element of the knee-block would occur only in the ends of the members.

Referring to Figs. '7 and 8, the embodiment therein illustrated and which also lends itself to the use of reinforced concrete has the two angularly disposed members 60 and 6| rabbeted top and bottom for the self-evident purpose of recessing the heads of the bolts 62, 63 and 64, and the body proper of the knee-block 65, and namely the matching edge portions of the knee-block are made to fit snugly in the groove described by the bottom rabbet's.

In Figs. 9 and 10, the angularly disposed members 7G and. H are shown as being produced from channel-iron stock with two said channel irons being placed in separated back-to-back relation in the instance of each said member, and each having transverse pins, as 72 and 13, projected across the opening and placed one in closely spaced proximity of the 'end extremity and the other in longitudinally removed relation therefrom. The knee-block, designated by H, is similarly composed of two pieces of channel-iron stock placed in separated 'back to-bacl: relation, and is brought firmly to bear against the underside flanges of the members it and ll by nutted bolts it, it and ll. The bolt 75 and'a T-head it which is made common to and 'engagesover each of the two pins 12, and the bolts 16 and ll'each present a hook end 19 which engages a related one of the two pins 73.

Still another arrangement which adapts itself to the use of steel sections is portrayed in Figs. 11, 12 and 13, I-bars being in this instance employed and the tie from the lcnee-blockfill to the angularly disposed members 8| and 82 being accomplished. by shackle-bolts. The shaclcling assembly applied to each end of the knee-block is comprised simply of nutted bolts bearing, top and bottom of the joint, against transversely applied strap-irons 84, The centrally placed shackle employs a boxing cap 85 which sectionally is of angular shape and there is welded to each of the skirting end walls thereof a bolt '85 fitted with a nut which isbrought to bear against a strap-iron 81.

It is thought that theinvention will have been clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description having express reference to the several embodiments which I have elected to illustrate. Various other arrangements which depart therefrom in point of shape and general arrangement of parts without sacrifice of the inventive concept will readily occur to those versed in the art, and it is my intention-that'no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given a scope fully commensurate with the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

What I claim is:

l. The knee structure for a kneed bent comprising, in combination with meeting angularly disposed framing pieces establishing a miter juncture by their meeting engagement and having their meeting ends longitudinally slotted 'in the plane of the bent, a gusset-forming kneeblock preformed to lie in the-inside angle between 'said pieces and finding an exact bearing fit against the furcate extremities of the pieces, a tongue extension'integrated withsaid knee-block and fitting in said slots, said block and its tongue extension presenting through-holes for the reception of bolts, and tensioning bolts received through said bolt-holes and. connecting the kneeblock to the meeting pieces to rigidly tie the same together and restrain the tied pieces against bending moments acting in any direction within the plane of the bent.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which one of said tensioning bolts occupies an axis bisecting the angle of junction and is made common to both of the meeting pieces and takes a direct purchase'upon each,

3. The knee structure for a kneed bent comprising, in combination with meeting angularly disposed framing pieces establishing a miter juncture by their meeting engagement, a gussetforming knee-block lying in the inside angle between said pieces and finding a mating fit with the latter, said pieces and knee-block presenting a mating tongue and groove in the plane of the bent, and tensioning means acting in the plane of the bent and rigidly tying the pieces and the knee-block together.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein said kneeblock comprises opposed cheeks separated by and secured to a web having a thickness equal to that of the bolts, said Web presenting the said tongue extension and being formed from a plurality of in-line pieces each separated from the next adjacent piece by a distance equal to the thickness of the bolts to provide the said through-holes.

5. The knee structure for a kneed bent comprising, in combination with meeting angularly disposed framing pieces and having their meeting ends longitudinally slotted in the plane of the bent, a gusset-forming knee-block arranged to lie in the inside angle between said pieces, preformed such as to find an exact bearing fit against the furcate extremities of the pieces, and having an integral tongue extension accommodated within said slots, and tensioning means rigidly tying the knee-block to each of said pieces to restrain the tied pieces against bending moments acting in any direction within the plane of the bent.

6. The knee structure for a kneed bent comprising, in combination with meeting angularly disposed framing pieces establishing a miter juncture by their meeting engagement and having their meeting ends longitudinally slotted in the plane of the bent, a gusset-forming kneeblock arranged to lie in the inside angle between said pieces, pre-formed such as to find an exact bearing fit against the furcate extremities of the pieces, and having an integral tongue extension accommodated within said slots, and tensioning means rigidly tying the knee-block to each of said pieces to restrain the tied pieces against bending moments acting in any direction within the plane of the bent.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 219,610 Whitney Sept. 16, 1879 451,321 Fisher Apr. 28, 1891 828,523 Springer Aug. 14, 1906 834,103 Bevan Oct. 23, 1906 893,676 Tschantz July 21, 1908 909,055 Bowers Jan. 5, 1909 2,013,150 Henze Sept. 3, 1935 2,264,290 Blain Dec. 2, 1941 2,399,042 Klonaris Apr. 23, 1946 2,409,383 Pedersen Oct. 15, 1946 2,520,333 Pedersen Aug. 29, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 82,424 Austria Jan. 25, 1921 

